


Gym Class

by holdontoyourhulahoops



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: High School AU, M/M, depression:tw, friends to lovers sort of, they're just really cute and really stupid okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 06:08:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1458811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holdontoyourhulahoops/pseuds/holdontoyourhulahoops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason and Nico are upperclassmen forced to take the same freshmen gym class, taught by Mr. D.  Neither is happy to be there and they're both a little awkward, but, gradually, they become friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gym Class

First day senior year the hallways were abuzz with excited chatter. Leo Valdez slapped Jason Grace on the back, grinning like the chesire cat. “Hey, man!” he greeted, leaning back against the lockers.

Jason smiled at his best friend while he carefully pulled out his books. “Hey.”

“So, what lunch period do you have?” Leo asked excitedly, pausing to wink at nearly every girl who walked by them. “Because Percy, Piper, Annabeth, and I have fifth period so we could basically get the gang back together.”

Jason groaned. “Sorry, dude, but I have PE that hour.”

Leo’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “You’re taking PE?”   
Olympia High only technically required three semesters of physical education for its students, and therefore most kids got it out of the way by their sophomore or junior year.

Jason nodded miserably. “Yeah, apparently there was a scheduling error, or something, and I forgot to take it Sophomore year.”

Leo chuckled. “Sucks for you.”

Jason sighed. “That’s not even the worst part. The only PE class that could fit into my schedule with all my AP courses is the freshmen class with Mr D.”

Leo’s eyebrows rose and he burst into laughter. “With the Frosh? Oh my god, that sucks serious balls,” he choked. “Better you then me.”

“Thanks for the support.”

“That’s what best friends are for,” Leo joked, winking before he set off down the hallway. Jason breathed deeply through his nose. Leo was the Donkey to his Shrek; a pain in the ass you gradually grow to love. Kid would never change.  
….  
Fifth period came too soon. Jason towered over the other boys at 6’2. The poor jittery freshmen were all in different stages of horribly awkward adolescence. Many of them still looked and sounded like little boys. Jason had been gangly and awkward for most of Sophomore and Junior year as well, but over the summer he’d finally started to fill out and grow into his body.

The freshmen regarded him with varying degrees of awe and horror as he walked by. He recognized a few of them from soccer tryouts and greeted them with a polite hello, but the poor kids couldn’t seem to answer coherently. To them, he may well have been Caesar Augustus, anxious to conquer Rome with his army of upperclassman, and destroy the weak younglings on their first day. Jason merely shook his head sympathetically. He remembered how scared he’d been the first day of Freshman year, and the irrational feeling that all upperclassmen were out to get you. 

Most of the freshmen were crowded in a mob in the center of a locker room, changing as fast as they could, as if Mr. D would really care if they spent the entire class period changing. However, a short boy with dark hair stood alone in the corner, back turned to the crowd. Jason recognized him as his friend Hazel’s brother, Nico. The kid had tagged along when their group hung out a few times over the summer, and he didn’t seem like all that bad of a guy. He didn’t say much, and he was a little bit scary to look directly in the eye, but Jason didn’t harbor any dislike for him, and he was more than happy to see a familiar face.

“Hey, Nico!” he greeted cheerily. “I can’t believe we’re in the same class.”

Nico tensed, eyes widening as he turned to face the blond. “Oh… hi,” he mumbled, face flushing just a little. “I… uh… didn’t expect you to be in this class either.” His voice was pretty quiet, but Jason didn’t have a lot of trouble hearing it.

“Yeah, same. I guess I messed up my schedule sophomore year, and the only way to graduate was to take this class. It’s a relief to see you. I was afraid I was going to have to face the wrath of the Frosh alone,” he snorted. 

Nico blushed again, averting his eyes. “Yeah… I had to take this class again because… well…” he trailed off, eyes focused on the ground.

Jason tensed, “Right,” he mumbled, anxious to change the subject. He didn’t know any details of what had happened, but he was aware Nico had missed several months of school the previous spring, and that he had spent a considerable amount of time in the hospital. He remembered Hazel coming to school with red-rimmed eyes, and hardly speaking. He had been worried about her, but never pried because she never acted like she wanted to talk about it. It did explain why Nico was in the freshmen class again. PE was basically graded on showing up every day, so he supposed it would have been a hard class to make up.

“Heh, then I guess we can at least be miserable in this class together,” Jason said, in an attempt to change the subject. 

Nico relaxed a little and nodded. “I can’t wait,” he grumbled sarcastically. 

“That’s the spirit!” Jason laughed. He went to ruffle the younger boy’s hair, but lowered his hand and pretended not to notice when Nico flinched away from his touch.  
….  
PE with Mr. D was not a particularly hard class. Mr.D was an overweight, crabby, middle-aged man who always had a diet coke on hand. He was basically the definition of ironic high school gym teacher. He couldn’t care less about what they did and only came out of his office everyday to take attendance, often more than fifteen minutes after class should have technically started. He did his best to mispronounce everyone’s name in the most creative way possible, told them in a bored voice what the activity for the day would be, and then walked into his office and slammed the door.

By the end of the first week, even the freshmen were catching on that they didn’t really have to do anything. Class devolved into the most of the girls sitting in the corner chatting, while the freshmen boys burned off some energy, usually resulting in them chucking balls at each other’s heads like wild animals.  
Jason really liked to play sports, yet joining in with the obnoxious freshmen didn’t sound like all that appealing. Just standing among them made him feel like the one creepy older kid in those preschool ball-pits.

Instead, he sat by Nico on the bleachers, and tried to engage the younger boy in conversation. There were long patches of silence and it was usually Jason doing most of the talking while Nico responded with quick phrases or one word answers, but neither minded much. Jason had enough Leo anecdotes stored up from knowing him since preschool to last the entire year if he needed to, and Nico was a good listener. Sometimes they wouldn’t talk at all; Jason would cram for a test, while Nico read a book. Yet, it was a nice routine and after a few weeks they had fallen into a comfortable friendship.

One rainy day in late September, Jason was in the middle of telling Nico the story of how Leo had nearly gotten a red card in the previous soccer game, when they were interrupted.

“Jason, um… we need your help lifting some equipment,”a girl squeaked, voice trailing off nervously at the end.

Jason blinked at her, surprised she even knew his name, because he had no idea who she was. She was pretty, with dark hair precariously straightened, and a lot of eyeliner caked around her eyes, clearly intended to make her look older than she was. She gave him her best winning smile, as she waited for a reply.   
He raised an eyebrow, and glanced desperately at Nico. 

The sophomore’s dark eyes sparkled with amusement as he tried to conceal a smile, only confusing Jason further. “Uh… yeah, sure,” Jason answered uncertainly.

The girl’s face broke into a wide grin. “Great! Thank you so much!” Behind her, the mob of freshmen girls began to giggle excitedly, even drawing the attention of a few of the clueless boys.

The girl swung her hips as she led him towards the equipment room. A few of the more shameless girls trailing behind them, blushing madly and whispering to each other like they thought Jason wouldn’t notice. He grew increasingly uncomfortable. 

Finally, the freshman stopped, and pointed to an old basketball resting high atop the shelves. “You want that one?” Jason asked, incredulously. Beside the fact they were supposed to be on the ultimate frisbee unit, there was a rack of brand new basketballs well within her reach.

The girl nodded innocently, so Jason swallowed his pride and reached up to retrieve the basketball. He tried his best to ignore the delighted sighs and giggles emitted from his audience, and awkwardly handed it to her. 

She accepted it as if he were handing her a bouquet of flowers, and not a grungy basketball. “Thanks,” she replied, subtly fluttering her eyelashes. “I’m Anna, by the way.”

Jason flushed and scratched his nape, anxious to get out of this situation. “Oh, yeah, great. I’m just… gonna go back if you don’t need anything else.”

Anna’s face fell a little, and her confidence seemed to die, because all she managed to mumble was a quiet. “Yeah… okay.”

Jason rushed back to Nico, falling onto the bleachers and resting his face in his hands in embarrassment. “Oh my god,” he sighed. “That did not just happen.”

Nico seemed to find it hilarious, and could not muster up much sympathy. “Leo’s going to die if he hears this,” he responded, barely able to contain his own laughter.

“W-why would she?” Jason asked helplessly. “They aren’t even going to pretend they’re going to use that?” he moaned, gesturing discreetly over to the tight knit group of girls gossiping across from them.

“Hey, you’re the one that said you would help,” Nico pointed out.

Jason stared at him in disbelief, blue eyes wide. “What was I supposed to say? No, deal with it on your own?”

“You’re too nice,” Nico deadpanned.

“Why couldn’t she have asked one of the freshman boys? They’re her age, and several of them could definitely have reached the dumb basketball.”  
Nico rolled his eyes, and glanced out toward the group of awkward freshman boys. All of them either still had the body of a twelve year old, or were unusually tall and lanky. Along with the inevitable acne and braces, he couldn’t say he even blamed the girl for targeting Jason. “Are you kidding me? You’re way hotter than any freshman could ever dream to be.” It took a few seconds to realize he had actually said that out loud, but he flushed bright red the instant he did. “I mean…”

Jason, though, seemed to have taken it as a joke, because he only rolled his eyes. “This is going to be an even longer class than I expected…” he sighed.

Nico reached out a hand and tentatively patted his friend on the back. “If it makes you feel any better, I could glare at any girl that gets within a ten foot radius of us,” he mumbled, his mouth curling into a smirk.

Jason perked up. “You’d do that for me?” he laughed.

Nico crossed his arms and shrugged. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

Jason smiled, and nudged him in the shoulder. “Right.”

It wasn’t until he was taking notes in Professor Athena’s government class, two periods later, that Jason realized that was the first time Nico had not flinched away from physical contact. He couldn’t quite place why the thought alone made him so pleased with himself.  
….  
When the boys’ varsity soccer team didn’t have a game of their own, they would often attend the girls’ varsity team to cheer on their fellow classmates. Olympia High was competitive in all sports, and girls’ soccer was no exception; attending the games was usually a really fun time.

During a stoppage in play, Leo finally took a breath, taking a break from his overly enthusiastic cheering. “So, Jace, how much do you hate Mr. D’s class? The freshmen girls still ogling you like a piece of meat?”

Jason narrowed his eyes and pushed Leo away. “It’s not that bad.”

“Not that bad? You don’t get to eat lunch with me and my beautiful face!”

Jason snorted. “I mean, I don’t particularly like being in that class, but I don’t mind hanging out with Nico. He’s cool.”

Leo raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t he kind of creep you out?”

“He’s been through a lot of crap. He’s actually really great once you get to know him.”

Leo waved a hand dismissively. “You can make friends with just about anyone. Guy never says much when he tags along with us… do I intimidate him or something?”

Jason pursed his lips. Nico had been coming more often when their group hung out. He still mostly kept to himself, or stayed glued to Hazel’s side. However, he would occasionally make a snide joke to Jason when he thought no one was paying attention, or meet his eyes across the room. Jason would be lying to say he disliked the special attention. “Nico just doesn’t open up easily,” he replied.

Leo though, had apparently stopped paying attention. The game had resumed, and their team had gotten a great shot on net. Leo stood up and screamed like he was at the superbowl, while Jason shook his head at how one track-minded his best friend was.   
His eyes idelly scanned the bleachers. Girls’ soccer games were not super crowded most of the time. Aside from the parents of the team, a few especially dedicated students, and the boys’ soccer team, it was pretty empty. Everyone was mobbed in the center of the bleachers, but one boy sat in the far corner, playing what appeared to be a Nintendo 3DS, not watching the game at all.

It took a second for Jason to realize he recognized the kid as Nico di Angelo. His lips quirked into a smile. “I’ll be right back,” he shouted to his team, not waiting for a reply.

He thumped down the bleachers and slid beside Nico, grinning. The younger boy was so absorbed in his game, he didn’t even notice Jason’s arrival until the last second, and jumped in surprise.

“What are you doing here?” he half squeaked, hurrying to regain his composure, and quickly shutting his game.

“What about you? I didn’t know you came to these. You could have sat with us,” Jason replied, gesturing back at the mob of rowdy teenage boys a few rows up.

Nico shrugged. “I come to every game because Hazel is on the team.”

“So you’re a great supportive brother who pays tons of attention?” Jason asked sarcastically, eyeing the boy’s hastily closed 3DS with a smirk.

Nico blushed at being teased. “She’s been on the bench all game anyway! They want her rested for the play-offs.”

“Yeah, Hazel is one of their best players, despite her height and innocent appearance,” Jason laughed. Nico nodded and fidgeted with the game in his hands, not making any effort to reply.

“So, what are you playing?”

“Pokemon…” Nico mumbled. “Yeah, I know I’m a nerd and stuff.”

Jason laughed. “Cool! I wasn’t going to call you a nerd…”

Nico tilted his head in disbelief. 

Jason raised his hands in front of his face in a placating gesture. “Well maybe, but only affectionately,” he amended, reaching over to ruffle Nico’s hair. The shorter boy squirmed away from the touch, but the faint smile on his face showed he didn’t really mind.

“Which Pokemon do you have? I played when I was little. I had a Raichu that kicked serious ass.”

Nico snorted. “You probably wouldn’t know. It’s changed a lot since the first generation.”

“So I take it you’re a lifelong fan?”

“I mean, not really,” Nico sighed. “I played a lot when I was little. My… my sister and I would play together all the time. But after… I just didn’t want to anymore.”

Tensing a little, Jason tried to decide how to respond. Nico rarely spoke about his past or his personal life. Jason knew he had an older sister who had died in an accident years ago, and that he had only met Hazel two years after. Beyond that, he’d never pried. Sometimes he was filled with a strange curiosity to learn more, but he knew better than to push his friend. He accepted that Nico would open up slowly, when and if he was ever ready.   
Luckily, Nico continued on without waiting for a response. “Last year, when I was sick, Hazel bought me Pokemon Black and a 3DS. Eventually, I picked it up, and I sort of got hooked,” he explained, blushing.

“I think that’s pretty cool,” Jason replied, grinning. 

Nico shrunk a little, but smiled up at Jason despite himself. “I’m trying to battle the elite four right now,” he admitted. “That’s why I didn’t notice you coming.”

“Dork,” Jason teased affectionately, shaking his head. 

“Hey, Nico!” Leo cried, as he bounded down the bleachers and landed next to his best friend. Nico tensed a little, and his face fell to one of reserved indifference.

“I didn’t know you’d be here, but I guess it makes sense because you and Hazel are so close. You should come sit with us and stuff!” Leo added, throwing Nico a toothy grin.

“Thanks, but I’m okay,” Nico answered quietly.

“Anyway, we can’t have the team captain sitting over here, being a social recluse. You’re always the one harping on everyone about ‘team bonding time’ and all that crap,” Leo grumbled, wrinkling his nose.

Jason swatted at Leo, but relented “Leo’s probably right. I should get back to the boys. You sure you don’t want to come with us?” he asked, giving Nico a hopeful smile.

The younger boy nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine here.”

Jason didn’t press him. “Okay, see you Monday then!” he shouted, waving as he followed Leo back up the bleachers.

“Yeah, see ya.”

The remainder of the game passed pretty quickly. Olympia’s team won by a goal, and Leo leapt around ecstatically when it was scored, to the point where several of the players looked up at him in amused exasperation. 

Jason spent the time trying to resist the urge to stare at the back of Nico di Angelo’s head. He wondered why his eyes kept falling on him, as if by their own volition. At one point, Nico glanced back and met his eyes. Jason smiled widely to cover up being caught, face flushed.  
Nico grinned back, and Jason considered the possibility that the other boy had been having the same problem he was. Yet Nico went back to playing his game as if nothing had happened so he assumed it was just some kind of strange fluke.

A strange fluke that gave him butterflies in his stomach.  
….  
Every once in a while Mr. D was simply too lazy to even bother showing up for work. Those days were dreaded by the freshman PE class, because there was only one substitute; Coach Ares. Ares coached the football team. He was feared by basically everyone in the school, aside from Professor Athena, who was rumored to have beaten him in a fist fight. If anyone dared to bring that up, they were sure to end up in detention for a month.

Ares was a great coach due to his brutality, and had led their team to five repeat championships. He did, however, have a terrible reputation as being overly vicious, and an alleged cheater. (It was totally unintentional when Clarisse la Rue stepped on the East High quarterback’s wrist and broke it. An accident!) Every year over half the freshmen ended up vomiting during their first practice, and he had about as much sympathy for them as a lion for its prey. Coach Ares alone was the reason Jason had decided to pursue soccer in high school instead of football.

The first day he’d acted as their PE instructor, four girls cried, and six people had to be taken to the nurse’s office. It was absolutely miserable, and Ares showed pity for no one.

Spirits were pretty low the moment the boys realized Mr. D had followed through on his threat to stay home and marathon Breaking Bad, despite it being Friday. Groans and grumbles filled the locker room, and they only heightened when Ares stuck his head in to shout at them. “Hurry your lazy asses up or you won’t be walking for a week!” he roared.

Nico rolled his eyes and glanced at Jason, who could only shrug in response.

The freshmen all stared at each other in terror, and they made a mad dash for gym. Ares looked effectively douchey; sunglasses indoors, a baseball cap with an angry hog on it, a cut off shirt to display his admittedly impressive muscles, and baggy track pants.

“Get moving you pigs!” he shouted. A freshman girl had the gall to give him a dirty look, and he actually growled. She squeaked and ran after her friends.

Ares blew his whistle repeatedly. “Hurry up! Ten laps!”

Jason stayed back with Nico instead of running at full speed. The dark haired boy didn’t seem like the sort of kid to work out all that often. “You okay?” Jason called.

Nico glared at him. “I may be as skinny as a pole, but it doesn’t mean I’m totally out of shape.”

“What are you doing, Grace?!” Ares roared, racing over to repeatedly blow his obnoxious whistle near the blond’s ear. “Slowly jogging while you chat like little school girls?” he sneered. “You’re so weak it’s not surprising the soccer team didn’t win the championship!”

Jason tried not to side eye Ares too hard, and just concentrated on running in a straight line. The soccer team had lost in a very close game in semi-finals, and Ares mocking him for it was like rubbing salt in an open wound.

Nico breathed deeply through his nose beside him, “What an asshole,” he mumbled beneath his breath, but loud enough for Jason to hear. He silently thanked whatever god may have been listening that Ares was too busy screaming at some girls to notice.  
Ares slammed his foot on the ground as he waited for them to finish. In only a few moments, all the students were surrounding him, some more out of breath than others. The coach regarded them with disgust.

“I see that lazy old coot Dionysius has turned you all into a bunch of wimps,” he spat, taking the time to level each of them with a steely gaze.

“That won’t be tolerated when I’m around,” he stated coolly, spitting at a wall. One of the freshmen actually cringed. “Now we’re on the basketball unit, but I get the feeling none of you know jack shit about basketball. So screw it, we’re playing dodgeball.”

Several of the girls flinched in displeasure. Jason couldn’t blame them; having balls chucked at them by a bunch of overly exuberant boys didn’t sound that appealing. Most of the guys seemed rather happy with the idea though, if the way they high-fived and shouted with delight was any indication. Yes, nothing but some good old-fashioned school sanctioned violence to make your day better.

Ares’s eyes gleamed. “I’ll have to divide you into teams,” he announced, pretending to ponder the problem. He grinned deviously as he shouted his order. “Grace, you and all the ladies versus the boys.”

Jason’s mouth dropped open. “T-that’s not fair!” he retorted before he could stop himself. 

Ares raised an eyebrow. “Really? You’re twice the size of most of the competition. Any team I put you on would have an unfair advantage.”

He narrowed his eyes at the coach in exasperation, but Jason knew he was stuck with his fate. To make him even more uncomfortable, a few girls flocked to his side, invading his personal space as they confessed how they were totally okay with the arrangement.

“Don’t worry!” one laughed, batting her eyelashes.

Anna, the girl from before, nodded in agreement. “It’s okay, Jason, I’m great at dodgeball!” she said, flicking her hair over her shoulder. The poor senior tried not to shrink away from his crowd. Since the incident with the basketball a month ago none of the girls had tried to approach him directly, but they didn’t really try to hide the fact half of them had desperate crushes on him. He really didn’t know how to deal with it.

Some of the kids in class seemed to have some sense, though. A girl with freckles and dark hair in particular crossed her arms and gave Ares a sharp look. 

“No, seriously, that isn’t fair. We’ll be destroyed,” she grumbled. Jason had to admire her for her nerve, but Ares merely smirked, and pointed to Nico.

“Fine, di Angelo can be on your team too. Now no more arguing, get moving!” he roared. The girl looked like she wanted to say something but she shut her mouth and scowled, resigned. Nico looked shocked at being called out, but he wordlessly followed the girls and Jason to their side of the gym.

Even the freshmen boys didn’t seem entirely pleased with the arrangement. None of them particularly enjoyed pelting girls with dodgeballs as much as they enjoyed doing so to each other.

Ares, though, seemed to revel in the fact that he had made ninety percent of the class uncomfortable. He meticulously set the balls out in the middle of the gym, grinning at them, then stepped back to stand in the corner.

“No rules, anything goes!” he shouted. “On my whistle!” Both teams got into position, however reluctantly, standing behind the black lines.   
The coach brought the whistle to his lips and blew hard. They set off, dashing for the coveted dodgeballs.

It quickly became apparent that, just as the freckled girl had predicted, they were hopelessly outmatched. Half of their team was down within the first minute alone.

It was only because of great reflexes, and years of dodgeball experience that he managed to keep going. Some of the girls were actually pretty good players as well. The freckled girl in particular took down a few boys, and Anna hadn’t been lying when she’d told Jason she could play; as she held her own too. However, this couldn’t really make up for the fact that half of the girls stood there like willing targets. 

Ares stood on the sidelines, loving the sight of one team getting crushed. He kept egging the freshmen boys on.

Nico hung back behind the ranks, dodging any dodgeballs thrown at him, and doing what he could. He had surprisingly good aim.

Yet, even if they perhaps did better than Coach Ares had expected, Jason couldn’t last forever with the majority of the freshmen aiming solely for him. There was whoop of delight from all of the boys when they finally managed to hit him. Ares chuckled, eyes glinting menacingly, reminding Jason of Scar after he had just murdered Mufasa. Gee, he could tell he really didn’t like someone when he started internally comparing them to Disney villains.

Now things looked basically hopeless. Ares watched grinning as the last of their measly team got picked off, or gave up until only Nico remained. However, none of the freshmen seemed to be able to hit him.

He had noticeably better reflexes than Jason had given him credit for. One freshman chucked a ball at him, and he stepped aside from it easily, smirking at Ares. Jason almost laughed at the fact that Nico was stubbornly refusing to give up just to piss of their gym instructor.

And as far as plans went, it worked pretty well, because Ares was seething. After watching Nico effortlessly dodge another ball, he growled and ripped one off the ground. While Nico was trying to recover, he threw it, and it smacked the boy directly in the head.

A few seconds of silence followed, before there was an outburst among the girls’ team. Anna stormed forward, her hands on her hips. “You can’t do that! I’m calling bull!” she hissed.

Ares raised an eyebrow at her. “How dare you talk to a teacher that way. Detention, for a month.”

The girl threw her hands up and glared, but Ares merely laughed. “Anyone else want to argue?”

Jason almost stepped forward, but Nico pulled him back, giving him a warning glance. “Not worth it. I just wanted to piss him off. Think I succeeded?” he asked, smirking.

“Yeah. Where did you learn to play dodgeball like that?” he inquired, still a little surprised.

Nico shrugged. “Grade school? Where did anyone?”

“Touche… You didn’t get hurt when he smacked you in the face. We could probably report him or something and…”

Nico snickered and cut Jason off with a wave of his hand. “I’m fine. Can’t do that much damage with a dodgeball. And did you see his face?”

Jason was about to respond when Ares rudely interrupted. “Di Angelo. Grace. Stop chit-chatting like a pair of wussies and get back into position.”

Jason narrowed his eyes and did what he was told, only comforted by the image of Pr. Athena punching the asshole in the face. He never thought he would miss Mr. D, but he couldn’t wait for the lazy old man to return.  
….  
Later that day, Jason found Nico in the halls, leaning against his sister’s locker, waiting for her get ready so they could drive home.

“Hey, Nico,” Jason greeted. “Hopefully we never have to have Ares as a sub again.”

Nico blinked up at him. “Yeah,” he agreed. “That man is ruthless.”

Jason grimaced. “Why do you think I skipped out on football? I pity anyone who has to put up with him on a daily basis,” he grumbled. “But anyway, the local movie theater is replaying the original Star Wars trilogy on Saturday and Leo can’t come because he said he has a date or something,” he began, scratching the back of his head.

Nico snickered. “Poor girl.”

“So, I mean, wanna go?” Jason inquired, oddly nervous. It didn’t make a lot of sense that his hands were growing clammy or his stomach was doing flips over asking a friend to hang out.

“Just us?” Nico asked, surprised.

Jason shrugged. “I mean, yeah, not like it’s a big deal or anything but…”  
Nico smiled. “Okay.”

“Okay? Okay, awesome!” Jason replied, fidgeting a bit. He reveled in the feeling of Nico smiling at him, and couldn’t quite shake off the giddy feeling for the rest of the day.  
….  
However, on Saturday, Nico still hadn’t arrived even twenty minutes after they were supposed to meet. Jason stared out the window uncomfortably. He checked his phone several times, but it always showed no new message. He sighed, leaning back against the wall, half concerned and half annoyed. The movie started in less than twenty minutes, and all the seats would be taken up. But Nico didn’t seem like the type to cancel on him without so much as a text message. Various ideas of what was keeping his friend flashed through Jason’s mind; from plausible to absolutely ridiculous. Somehow his thoughts went from ‘maybe he just slept in and forgot to set an alarm’ to ‘he has been kidnapped by the mob and I have to alert the authorities immediately.’

Jason had already sent several texts of his own, but received no responses. Finally, he gave into his anxiety and mashed the call button, bringing his cell phone up to his ear.

It rung several times, but at the last second someone picked up the phone. “Hello?” a feminine voice breathed. It definitely wasn’t Nico.

“Hazel?” Jason asked.

She hummed in response. “Hi, Jace.”

“Hey, Nico was supposed to meet me for the movies, and he’s not here, I was just calling to see if he was okay or something.”

She took in a sharp intake of breath before responding. “I’m really sorry, Jace, he isn’t feeling well…” she mumbled, trailing off at the end. 

“Shoot, is he okay? Do you guys need anything?”

Hazel chuckled, but it didn’t sound very genuine. “No, we’ll be fine. He’s okay, he just needs to rest. I’ll tell him to text you when he feels up to it, alright?”

“Yeah, okay. See ya, Hazel,” he answered.

“Bye!” she chirped. Her voice sounded disingenuously cheery, and his concern only grew. 

He considered going to the movie by himself, but ended up going home instead, and laying on his bed in dejection. He knew it was pathetic and unfair to be upset over this, with Nico apparently very sick, but he couldn’t quite will the feeling of disappointment to leave his gut.

He distracted himself by madly cleaning; his shirts were reorganized, he sorted through the attic, steam cleaned the floors, and scrubbed the bathroom while listening to obnoxiously loud music. If anything, he had least earned the world’s greatest son award for basically making the house sparkle. Every few minutes he would check his phone for any texts, but aside from Leo and Piper, there were never any new messages. Not that he minded.

He texted Hazel twice asking how Nico was and both times she’d replied with vague ‘he’ll be alright’ answers that only made him more worried.   
….  
For once, Jason was almost happy for Monday morning to roll around, if only because it would give him something to do. He was surprised to find Nico was even at gym class fifth period. Immediately, a strange wave of relief flooded his system, but it was quickly killed when the younger boy turned around.  
His hair was unusually disheveled and the circles beneath his eyes were like dark canyons. He didn’t even address Jason when the older boy entered the locker room.

When he finally did glance at him it was with glassy eyes; as if he was looking right through him. The blond watched in silence as Nico headed to the gym for attendance.

The younger boy crouched in their usual corner, his head in his hands. Jason wondered if he should even approach Nico; he had no idea what was going on, if he would make anything better or worse. Yet, he felt incapable of doing nothing, so he hesitantly sat beside him.

“Nico,” he tried, reaching over to pat his friend’s shoulder. For the first time in a while, the boy flinched away without responding.

“Are you okay?” Jason asked, but mentally kicked himself as the words left his mouth. Of course, he clearly was not okay.

Nico grunted. “Look, Jason, I’d really appreciate it if you left me alone right now,” he breathed, his voice gravelly and almost unrecognizable.  
Jason stiffened. “But-”

Nico took a deep breath, stood up, and half ran to the locker room, letting the door swing shut behind him. Jason could do nothing but watch with his mouth half open.

He sat alone for a moment. Fiddled with his thumbs. Stared at the locker room door, and questioned if he was some sort of idiot.  
It was probably a poor decision to follow Nico after clear request to be left alone. Friends were supposed to respect each other’s boundaries, and give each other space when they needed it. Still, the overwhelming desire to just be near the younger boy; to be there even if he couldn’t fix anything won out in the end.

He found Nico curled up on the floor of a shower, trembling. The only indication he was even there were the staggered breaths and the occasional choked sob. 

Jason stood there for a moment, watching the younger boy’s shoulders shake and his hands clenched. His mouth opened and closed, but he held it shut and slid down beside him, saying nothing. Nico didn’t seem to register his presence for a few minutes until finally he glanced up with bloodshot eyes.   
His expression was a mix of confusion and emptiness. It was almost scary to look at.

“I’m sorry,” Nico whimpered, then broke down entirely, until his entire body was a shaking mess of sobs. “I’m sorry… ‘m sorry… sorry,” he choked out. Jason didn’t know who the boy was apologizing to. He wasn’t sure if Nico did either. 

He felt entirely powerless to help. Nevertheless, he scooted a few inches closer to his friend and set a hand on the cold floor an inch away from his trembling form, careful not to touch his skin.

Nico sobbed helplessly for what felt like hours, but eventually his panicked sobs quieted to shaky breaths and trembling hiccups. At some point he hooked his pinky through Jason’s, but whether it was intentional or some unconscious desire for human contact, neither would ever know. 

By the time the bell rang at the end of the hour Nico had once again gone completely silent, his dark eyes trained on the floor. He flinched when the bell sounded, but otherwise didn’t react.

“Do you want me to take you to the nurse?” Jason asked, his voice sounding strangely foreign in his throat.

“No,” Nico mumbled, reaching up to wipe at his eyes. He stubbornly resisted any help as he pushed himself off the floor.

“I can deal with this,” he sighed. “It’s not a big deal.”

Jason wanted to argue that whatever had set Nico off like this had to be a big deal. He wanted to force the younger boy to talk about it. He wanted to pick him up, wrap him in a blanket, and shield him from everything.   
Instead, he nodded.

Nico regarded him sadly, and fiddled with his hands before fleeing the locker room, still dressed in his gym clothes.  
This time, Jason didn’t follow.  
….

Nico wasn’t at school for the next two days. Jason didn’t text or call him; deciding to instead give him space. Hazel acted normally enough, but he could tell something was weighing her down. He asked her twice how Nico was doing and both times she’d replied with a smile and said that he was alright and would be back soon. He almost asked Hazel what was really going on, but that would have been a gross violation of Nico’s privacy. If he ever found out, it would have to be from Nico himself, if the boy wanted to talk about it. He didn’t know if Hazel was aware of what had happened in the locker room, but he’d never ask.

He didn’t sleep much that week. Thursday, he missed his alarm and only had ten minutes to get ready. He just barely dashed through the doors before the homeroom bells sounded. He sighed in relief, thankful he wouldn’t have to explain his tardiness to Leo. His best friend wasn’t the most perceptive person in the world, but he would definitely grow concerned if he were late for school; as Jason was almost always disgustingly early.  
He hurried to his locker, but halted when he saw Nico di Angelo slumped against it.

“Nico?” he asked.

The boy glanced up at him through his fringe. “Hey.”

“You’re back…,” he said stupidly, at a loss for words. “I was worried.”

Nico frowned and averted his eyes. “Do you think you’ll get in trouble if we skip home room?”

Jason shook his head without thinking about it. Professor Athena would give him detention for sure, but that didn’t matter at the moment.

“Hmm…” Nico sighed. “I just… I wanted to apologize about… the other day.”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “What… but, Nico-”

Nico didn’t appear to be listening; his voice shaking as he spoke. “I don’t usually act like that. It’s been getting a lot better. It won’t happen again, and it’s fine if you think I’m weird or want to avoid me or something.” He brought his arms up unconsciously to hug himself, still not meeting his friend’s eyes.

Jason reached forward to gently grip his shoulders, effectively silencing him. “Stop. You don’t have to talk about it. And I’m not going to avoid you. Why would you possibly think that?”

“I just, I’m kind of a freak,” Nico sighed. “And I don’t fit in, and you don’t have to be my friend because you feel bad for me or something…” he mumbled.

The blond shook his head. “I’m your friend because I want to be, because I like you as a person,” he said, voice steady. “Don’t get the wrong idea.”

Nico’s eyes widened and he glanced up at him, still a little uncertain. “I guess that makes me a pretty crappy friend, ditching you last week without even texting you or anything…”

Jason shrugged. “I’m really not mad.”

“It’s hard to explain,” Nico mumbled, voice quivering. “You wake up in the morning and you just don’t feel like doing anything or going anywhere or even moving. The whole world feels pointless… It’s gotten better since last year but sometimes, I…”

Jason squeezed his shoulders. “You don’t have to talk about it,” he repeated softly. 

“Okay…” Nico breathed. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so weak.”

The blond quirked his head. “I don’t mean to sound cheesy, but I think just being able to get yourself to come to school makes you pretty damn brave. You need to work on self esteem,” Jason chided, smiling.

Nico sniffled. “You sound like Hazel.”

“Hey, she’s really smart, no?”

The younger boy wiped at his eye and mumbled something incoherent before he surged forward and pulled Jason into a hug, hiding his face in the blond’s broad chest. Jason stiffened, but Nico had pulled back before he could even react.

The boy blushed beet red, but smiled. “Sorry.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Didn’t I tell you to stop apologizing,” he laughed, ruffling his friend’s dark hair. “This weekend I was going through my attic and I found my old N64 and my copy of Pokemon Stadium. I don’t know, it made me feel oddly nostalgic. Do you wanna come over tomorrow and try it again?”   
Jason asked. Nico sniffled and wiped at his eyes without responding immediately. “If you’re feeling up to it, I mean,” the blond added quickly, the tips of his ears turning red despite himself.

Nico blinked, but his lips gradually warped into a smirk. “Sure, but I call Charizard.”

“Can’t we both use Charizard?”

Nico scoffed. “Don’t kid, Jason, you can have your precious Raichu.”

“That’s not fair,” he whined playfully, nudging Nico’s shoulder.

“Who said I was fair, you dork?”

The school bell drowned out Jason’s laughter, and he casually slung an arm around Nico’s shoulder. The younger boy blushed, but didn’t shrug away from   
the contact and grinned shyly up at his friend through his eyelashes.

Nico wasn’t okay, not really, not yet. But he would be, eventually. And at that moment, he was happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh wow, I'm so happy this is done. I'm marking it as complete for now but look out for a possible sequel at some point. Thanks to my sister and tumblr user maysbe for the encouragement . This is way longer then anything I would usually write. Also, I'm posting this here because tumblr was being difficult. You can follow me at hopenobodyeverfindsthis.tumblr.com if you want more crappy pjo fics or want to request a fic. Thanks for reading! Tell me if anything in here was insensitive because I was really worried about that.


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